Help:Editing

See WikiMedia Meta Help page or just MediaWiki Help Formatting.

Contents copied from mw:Help:Editing_pages, for immediate viewing here (and updating if desired). Be bold.

It's very easy to edit the contents of a wiki:

1. Click the "Edit" link at the top of the page.
2. Make changes to the text.
3. Click the "Save changes" button.

Simple as that!

Editing rules, editing conventions, and formatting

The number one rule of wiki editing is to be bold. Go ahead—make changes. Other people can correct any mistakes you make, so have confidence, and give it a try! There are all kinds of editing conventions, rules, and philosophies for the editing of wiki pages, but the be bold rule is the most important of these!

An edit can contribute whole new paragraphs or pages of information, or it can be as simple as fixing a typo or a spelling mistake. In general, try to add or edit text so that it is clear and concise. Most importantly, make sure you are always aiming to do something which improves the contents of the wiki.

When you need to use some type of formatting, such as for new headings or bolding of text, you do this using wiki syntax or the buttons in the edit toolbar above the editing zone.
See mw:Help:Formatting for some of the common types of formatting used.

Edit summary

Before you save a change, you can enter a short note (must be shorter than 500 characters) in the "summary" box describing your changes. Don't worry too much about this, or spend too much time thinking about it: just put in a short description of what you just changed. For example, you might say "fixed typo" or "added more information about sunflowers".

This summary gets stored alongside your edit, and allows people to track changes in the wiki more effectively.

Preview

It's a good idea to use the "Show Preview" button to see what your change will look like, before you save it. This is also related to tracking changes because every time you save, this is displayed to others as a separate change. This isn't something to worry about too much, but it's good to get into the habit of eliminating mistakes in your own work, by using a preview before saving, rather than saving, then having to do another edit just to make one or more minor corrections.

Show changes

Another option is the "Show changes" button which allows you to see the differences between the current version and the edited version.

Protected pages

Pages that are protected cannot be edited by anyone except users of a specific group. Protected pages will instead display "View source" instead of edit. In that case, to edit a protected page, contact a user who has permission to edit the page. The default protection levels are as follows:

• None (allow all users)
• Autoconfirmed (prevent edits by new and unregistered users)
• Sysop (prevent edits by all users except administrators)

Other types of editing

With wiki edits you can start a new page, move (or rename) a page, or even delete a page:

• Starting a new page
• Moving a page
• Deletion and undeletion

Details of presentation

• mw:Manual:Collapsible_elements

Remember you should always aim to improve the overall contents of the wiki with your edits.

Discussion

Every article has its own "talk page" where you can ask questions, make suggestions, or discuss corrections. See "Talk pages", "Talk", or "Discussion"